Sandra Bullock Gives Commencement Speech At New Orleans High School

Sandra Bullock surprised graduates of New Orleans’ Warren Easton Charter High School on Monday when she stepped up to the podium to give their commencement address.

Sandra Bullock Gives Commencement Speech

Bullock, 49, who has been an active supporter of Louisiana’s oldest school, which shut down for a year following Hurricane Katrina, was introduced to rousing applause from the stunned students. Once she made her way to the stage, Bullock offered some sound advice that she frequently gives to her four-year-old son, Louis Bardo Bullock.

“I wished someone had said to me what I’ve been spending the last four years telling a little boy, who I love more than anything, who happens to be my son,” she said. “So I thought, ‘Maybe I will share that with you guys, that what I tell a 4-year-old is what I wish someone had told me before I stepped out into the world.”

“Stop being scared of the unknown, because anything I worried about didn’t happen,” said the Oscar-winning actress. “Other stuff happened. The unknown we can’t do anything about. It is noisy out there and for some reason, people want to see you fail. That’s not your problem. That is their problem.”

Bullock went on to discuss the concept of failure, something the Gravity star doesn’t think exists. “I only remember the moments where I tried beyond what I thought I could do and I do not remember the failures because I didn’t,” she said. “Nothing’s a failure; it’s just not supposed to work out that way because something better is supposed to come along.”

Aside from her more theoretical advice, Bullock had some practical tips for the group of 17 and 18-year-olds. She told them to eat “something green every day with every meal,” to “not pick your nose in public,” and “When someone who cares about you hugs you, hug them back with two arms.”